Interaction management system and methods of use

ABSTRACT

A communication transaction management system has a computerized appliance executing software from a digital medium for a particular enterprise, a holding function of the software tracking received transactions initiated by associated persons, and selecting individual transactions for connection to live agents, and a monitoring function for determining behavior of the persons associated with individual transactions on hold relative to an interactive presentation. Individual transactions on hold are prioritized for connection to live agents at least in part depending on the behavior determined by the monitoring function.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/695,382, filed on Jan. 28, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,537,924, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is in the field of telephony including InternetProtocol network telephony (IPNT) and pertains particularly to methodsand apparatus for managing interactions in a queuing system.

2. Discussion of the State of the Art

In the art of telephony, enterprise communications centers are nowprocessing more and more digital communications. With the advent of theInternet network and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), communicationscenters are processing more and more voice interactions coming in fromwide area networks, such as the Internet. In many cases, callers haveboth an active connection open to a Website of the enterprise and avoice telephony connection, or interactive chat connection to an agentof the enterprise.

In most telephony applications a queue is used when there are noavailable agents to handle calls, and the customer's request forconversing with an agent must be placed in queue until an agent becomesavailable to take the call. Many queuing systems are first-in-first-out(FIFO) queues that have an estimated wait time parameter (EWT). EWT isthe estimated amount of time that the caller just placed in queue willhave to wait before they can expect the call to be connected to anagent. Live assistance is typically voice assistance but may alsoinclude realtime text-based interaction like one-on-one chat, email ortext messaging.

In some telephony applications, a queuing system can have some priorityorder with respect to the interactions queued therein. For example, avery important person (VIP) may be queued ahead of a potential customeralready in queue with no history of interaction with the enterprise.Priority-based queues are typically based on information that ispre-known about the calling party of the queued interaction.

When EWT is high in a queuing system, potential customers begin droppingout of queue, pushing up the call abandonment rate. Some enterprisesoffer a customer call-back option that may be presented by interactivevoice response (IVR) either before en-queuing the customer forassistance or after the customer is already in queue for assistance.However, many potential customers are not available for the scheduledcall-back or have found another solution by then.

It is desirable that potential customers do not become bored oruncomfortable waiting for live assistance. Audio content such asbackground music (music-on-hold) is typically presented to customerswaiting for live assistance. Periodic reporting of EWT may also be afeature of the queuing system, as well as periodic call-back offers.However, despite current ways to engage and communicate with potentialcustomers while they are waiting for live assistance, many still dropout of queue when wait times are high, resulting in lost potentialbusiness for the enterprise. Others may be in the wrong queue and arenot redirected into a proper queue until a live agent has picked up thecall.

Therefore, what is clearly needed is a system and methods for presentingpotential customers with interactive Web content while they are in queueto keep them engaged and to potentially provide opportunity throughactive tracking of interaction with the presented content foradvancement in queue or placement in a more relevant queue.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem stated above is that it is desirable that call-in-centercall abandonment rates be lowered, but many of the means for loweringsuch rates such as periodic IVR prompting of potential customers toaccept calls at a later time, also cause missed opportunities resultingfrom the time between the prompting and the actual call-back attempt.

The inventors therefore considered functional components of a callcenter system, looking for elements that exhibit interoperability thatcould potentially be harnessed to provide robust customer engagementwhile in queue, but in a manner that would not result in higherabandonment rates or missed call opportunities.

Every call-in center relies on an influx of call-in customers, oneby-product of which is an abundance of customers that must wait in queuefor assistance and a large percentage that drops out of the systembefore help arrives. Most such call-in-centers employ queuing systemswhen agents are not readily available to rout pending interactionrequests to so they may be handled, and queuing systems are typicallypart of such apparatus.

The present inventor realized in an inventive moment that if, at thepoint of being queued for assistance, potential customers could bepresented with a Web Interactive that could be monitored duringinteraction therewith, significant reduction in call abandonment ratesmight occur. The inventor therefore constructed a unique interactionmanagement system for queuing up calls for live assistance arriving atthe center from a Web site that allowed the enterprise to serve a Webinteractive to queued customers whereby those customers might interactto advance position in queue or to be redirected to another queue. Asignificant reduction in call abandonment rate occurs with no impedimentto interaction processing efficiency rate created.

Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, a communicationtransaction management system is provided, comprising a computerizedappliance executing software from a digital medium for a particularenterprise, a holding function of the software tracking receivedtransactions initiated by associated persons, and selecting individualtransactions for connection to live agents, and a monitoring functionfor determining behavior of the persons associated with individualtransactions on hold relative to an interactive presentation. Individualtransactions on hold are prioritized for connection to live agents atleast in part depending on the behavior determined by the monitoringfunction.

In one embodiment the interactive presentation is a web page, and thebehavior of the person involves the person's interaction with the webpage. Also in one embodiment the holding function comprises a queue, andtransactions are advanced or retarded in queue based at least in partdepending on the behavior determined by the monitoring function.

In one embodiment the system further comprises a function determining ifa person associated with a transaction on hold has initiated thetransaction using a multi-modal device that also has web-browsingability. Also in an embodiment the received transaction on hold wasinitiated from a web page hosted by the enterprise. IN that instance theact of initiating a transaction from the web page initiates linking tothe interactive presentation.

In some embodiments there is a function wherein persons associated withtransactions on hold are queried as to having web access, and if webaccess is available, are directed to the interactive presentation. Insome cases the interactive presentation may be a survey form comprisinga mechanism for the person to respond to questions.

In some embodiments the interactive presentation comprises interactiveability for a person to order a product or service. In such embodimentsaccomplishing an order for a product or service by the person associatedwith a transaction on hold may advance the transaction for connection toa live agent, and being in process of ordering a process or service mayprevent connection to an agent until the ordering process is complete.

In another aspect of the invention a method for communicationtransaction management is provided, comprising the steps of (a)receiving transaction requests from persons; (b) placing thetransactions on hold for connection to a live agent through executingsoftware from a machine-readable medium by a computerized appliance; (c)monitoring behavior of persons associated with transactions on holdrelative to an interactive presentation; and (d) prioritizingtransactions for connection at least in part depending on the behaviordetermined in step (c).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an architectural view of an enterprise communications networkpracticing interaction management according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating correlation between a Webinteractive and a multi-modal queuing system according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a process flow chart illustrating steps for adjusting queueposition for a caller based on analysis of Web interaction according toan embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors provide a unique interaction management system especiallyfor callers that call the enterprise after or during a web browsingsession. In this instance the caller may be enabled to interact with aspecial Web interactive while waiting in queue for live assistance, andanalyzed results of interactions with the Web interactive may justify achange in queue position for a caller or a change in queues altogether.The present invention is described in enabling detail below using thefollowing examples, which may represent more than one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 1 is an architectural view of an enterprise communications network100 practicing interaction management according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. Communications network 100 includes the well-knownInternet network 101, also referred to as the World Wide Web (WWW).Internet 101 is further represented by a network backbone 105, whichrepresents all of the lines, equipment, and access points that make upthe Internet network as a whole including connected sub-networks.Therefore, there are no geographic limitations to the practice of thepresent invention.

An enterprise call center (CC) 104 is illustrated in this example. CC104 may be any enterprise equipped to process a large influx of incominginteractions. CC 104 includes a local area network (LAN) 126 that isadapted with Internet protocols like transfer control protocol overInternet protocol (TCP/IP) and other protocols required to include LAN126 as a connected sub-network of Internet 101.

LAN 126 supports an Internet protocol router (IPR) 115. IPR 115represents any logical gateway or router connecting LAN 126 to Internetnetwork 101. IPR 115 is connected to Internet backbone 126 via anInternet access line 108. A Web server (WS) 107 is illustrated in thisexample and represents any server capable of serving electronicinformation pages to clients. Enterprise CC 104 maintains an enterpriseWebsite 113 hosted on Web server 107. Website 113 represents acollection of electronic information pages that are accessed bypotential customers and existing customers for the purpose of contactingthe enterprise and engaging in business with the enterprise. WS 107 hasa digital medium (not illustrated) coupled thereto that includes all ofthe data and software required to enable server function as a Webserver.

WS 107 may be maintained on the Internet by enterprise 104 or by athird-party Web hosting service. In one embodiment WS 107 may reside onLAN 126 without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. WS107 may be accessed by potential clients or customers of enterprise 104using Internet-capable appliances running Internet browser SW. Acomputing appliance 103 is illustrated in this example. Computingappliance 103 is a laptop computer in this example. In one embodiment,appliance 103 may be a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personalcomputer (PC), a smart phone, or any computing appliance that is enabledby browser, input mechanism, and display to navigate Website 113.

Computing appliance 103 includes a headset/microphone 112, which may beused in communications sessions using a telephony application (notillustrated) installed on and executable from computing appliance 103.In one embodiment computing appliance 103 is a smart telephone having anoperating system, a graphical user interface, and telephony capability.In one embodiment computing station 103 comprises a computer and aseparate telephone operating as a single communications station.

Computing appliance 103 has connection to Internet 101 through carriernetwork 102 by way of an Internet access line 124, a local telephonyswitch 110, and a network bridging facility or media gateway (GW) 109.An Internet service provider (ISP) is assumed present in this examplealthough not illustrated. Other Internet connection methods may be usedother that dial-up such as broad band, digital subscriber line (DSL),cable/modem, etc. A user operating computing appliance 103 is capable ofpracticing telephony and browsing a Website online simultaneously. In ascenario where a separate telephone is associated with computingappliance 103 instead of headset 112, the user may browse the Internetusing appliance 103 and may engage in telephony using the associatedtelephone. The Website data channel and the telephone data channel maybe carried over single or separate lines without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention. In one embodiment computingappliance 103 connects wirelessly to the Internet through a satellite orother wireless data network system.

In this example, call center 104 maintains Website 113 on WS 107. Thecenter has a “call us” radio button (not illustrated) embedded on atleast one page of the Website such as a contact page of the Website. Auser browsing the page containing the “call us” button may click on theoption to initiate a telephony call to call center 104. A user mayautomatically connect to call center 104 using the “call us” buttonwhere the user's telephony application is combined with the browsercapability on the same computing appliance. In another embodiment, auser may click on “call us” and see a telephone number to call whereuponthe user may physically dial the number using a separate communicationsdevice. In still another embodiment, a user may accept a call from callcenter 104 to a designated device or application. What is evident in allof these scenarios is that the user is communicating with call center104 using voice and browsing the Website of the center simultaneously.

Call center 104 may initiate a sales campaign that includes “allinteractions generated from the Website requesting live assistance”. Agroup of agents may be assigned to handle these interactions leavingdirect incoming telephone calls sourced from other networks to othercall center agents. The interactions may be limited to voiceinteractions, or they may include one-on-one chat interaction requestsin the mix.

A plurality of agent stations 119 (1-n) is illustrated within callcenter 104 where each station has connection to LAN 126. An agent groupmay be defined as the group of agents operating stations 119(1-n). Agentstations 119 (1-n) are characterized by LAN connected PCs and associatedLAN connected telephones. In this case, the telephones may be PBX IPtelephones connected to a private branch exchange (PBX) soft switch 117,which is in turn connected to LAN 126. PBX 117 has IVR capability. Anelectronic queuing system 118 is provided and is associated with PBX/IVR117. Users browsing Website 113 may click on “contact us” to initiate avoice call into center 104 from their computing appliance. The callsgenerated from Website 113 arrive at CC 104 at PBX/IVR 117. Each callmay be intercepted by IVR and then routed to one of agent stations 119(1-n).

When there are no agents available to take recently arrived calls, callsare placed in queuing system 118 to wait for the next available agent totake the call. Queuing system 118 may include one or more physicalqueues for representing callers that are waiting for a live agent.Queuing system 118 may be a multimedia queuing system so it may includequeue space for voice requests (calls) and for chat requests (text-basedlive interaction). Queuing system 118 may include priority ordering withrespect to queued entries. Queuing system 118 has software (SW) 111installed thereon and executable there from. SW 111 is a queue managerapplication that is capable of changing the order in which queue entriesare listed based on instruction. Such changes may be the result ofanalysis of data collected about the browsing behavior of the callers inqueue whom are still connected to Website 113.

LAN 126 supports an administration PC 121 for monitoring Website 113hosted on Web server 107. PC 121 has a user interface (UI) 120 openthereon that enables an authorized user such as a Website administratorto monitor Website data from Website 113 both automatically andmanually. UI 120 enables, for example, an administrator to see who isvisiting the Website including those who have initiated a liveinteraction while browsing the site. WS 107 includes SW 114 adapted toserver a unique Web interactive to Web visitors such as Web interactive106 illustrated on computing appliance 103. Web interactive 106 isserved only to users who have clicked the “call us” option on Website113 resulting in a queued interaction request in queuing system 118. UI120 may be used to invoke SW 114 resident on WS 107. In one embodiment,SW 114 may reside on PC 121 instead of WS 107 and may be integrated withUI 120.

Web interactive 106 may be a packaged subset of pages taken from Website113. Web interactive 106 may be one or more dynamically generated Webpages that are not associated with Website 113. Web interactive 106 maybe a collection of third-party advertisement pages provided to CC 104for inclusion into Web interactives served to users browsing the sitewhile waiting in queue 118. A user may be redirected from the mainWebsite to Web interactive 106 when the user clicks on “call us” toinitiate a live interaction request at a period when there are notsufficient agents to engage callers and EWT in queue is longer than apreset threshold for serving the interactive content. In one embodimentthe Web interactive may be served as a mini Website within Website 113where users may interact and navigate with a possible goal of beingadvanced in queue.

Web interactive 106 may be a dynamically generated group of Web pagesoffered to a user to interact with who is in queue where the user'sinteraction with those pages is monitored and analyzed for the purposeof potentially modifying (advancing or retarding) the position of theuser in queue relative to other users in the same queue. SW 114 mayinclude session monitoring and data analysis software working accordingto one or more business rules designed to qualify a user for advancementin queue based on intent, emotion, click activity, pages visited, etc.While a user operating computing appliance 103 and headset 112 is inqueue 118, that user may be browsing or otherwise interacting with Webinteractive 106 and may be listening to background music on headset 112from the IVR unit at PBX 117. IVR capability may include serving specialapplications to potential customers in queue 118, the applicationssupported by application server 116 connected to LAN 126. The browsingor interaction behavior of the user relative to Web interactive 106 iscollected in real time and analyzed against one or more business rulesto determine if the user will be advanced in queue or retained in queue(purposely delayed from live pickup of the call).

In one example, Web interactive 106 is a collection of third partyadvertisement pages dynamically served to a user based on what mayalready be known about the user. The user may advance position in queueby clicking on any of the advertised products with the intent ofpurchasing those products or finding out more about those products. Inthis case, clicks are priced and third party advertisers pay CC 104 forthe ad space and click activity.

Web interactive may also include music, video, interactive games,puzzles, opinion solicitation, online polls, voting interfaces, or thelike. Interaction with Web interactive 106 provides CC 104 withadditional knowledge about a user in queue 118. Such knowledge might beleveraged to advance the user in queue, retard the user in queue, switchthe user from one queue to another queue, redirect the user to anothervoice destination, or transfer the user to some automated service.

The structure of Web interactive 106 allows the user to gain position inqueue in exchange for favorable acts or intents. For example, if a usercalled in to learn more about a product and was placed in queue, the Webinteractive might display one or more pages relative to one or moreversions of the product including similar products to help the user honein on which product version might be purchased when a live agentanswers. A user that successfully configures the desired version of theproduct and/or service might then be advanced to the front of the queueso an agent may assist the user with purchase of the product or service.Another user may not interact with Web interactive while in queue or mayinteract, but may make selections regarded as negative from theperspective of CC 104. Such a user may be held in queue for a longerperiod or may be redirected or transferred out to another servicelocation.

In one embodiment, a user in queue 118 and interacting with Webinteractive 103 may be able to make one or more purchases through theinteractive while waiting in queue. If monitoring indicates that theuser is in the middle of a purchase while waiting in queue, that usermay be skipped over if an agent becomes ready because the CC does notwant to interrupt a purchase in progress. More detail about therelationship between Web interactive 103 and CC queuing system 118 isprovided further below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating correlation between a Webinteractive and a multi-modal queuing system according to an embodimentof the present invention. Queuing system 118 includes two queues in thisexample, a queue 01 and a queue 02.

Queuing system 118 may contain a single queue or many queues withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Queuingsystem 118 includes a queue manager application 204 that may beanalogous to SW 111 illustrated and described in FIG. 1 above. Queuemanager 204 manages queue 01 and queue 02 according to one or morebusiness rules and general rules. For example, queue manager 204 mayadvance or retard any queue entry of which 6 queue entries areillustrated in each queue. Queue 01 and queue 02 contain sufficientmemory for queuing entries in an enterprise environment where there maybe hundreds of callers attempting to make contact through the Websiteresulting in queued entries in either or both queues. The onlydifference between queue 01 and queue 02 may be the purpose or intent ofthe queue. For example, queue 01 may contain queue entries representingcallers waiting for live voice assistance and queue 02 may be a queuefor entries requesting live chat assistance. Queue assignments may bevaried according to products and services offered.

Web interactive (WI) 106 is tied to queuing system 118 through a sessionactivity monitor 201, a data analysis and rules engine 202, and queuemanager 204. When a user clicks on a “call us” button, that user isrepresented on one of queues 01 or 02 as waiting for live assistance. Ifthere are live agents waiting to take interactions, the user might beimmediately connected to a live agent without spending any time inqueue. However, if there are currently no live agents available such asat a peak period of activity, then the call or interaction request isrepresented in one of the queues.

A time threshold might be established where EWT in queue is at or pastthe threshold indicating that the user will have sufficient time tointeract with a Web interactive. In situations where the wait for a liveagent is very short, perhaps 1 minute or under, there is no real need toserve an interactive to the user represented in queue. However, if EWTin queue is over say 3 minutes or more, then WI 106 is served. WI 106contains a set of pages 203 in this example. Each page may be an HTMLpage tagged using a Java script methodology and code.

When the WI is served into the user's Web session, activity monitor 201collects interaction data relative to the user's interaction with theserved Web interactive. Activity monitor 201 may, in one embodiment,automatically forward the data to data analysis and rules engine 202 forthe purpose of processing the data against one or more rules todetermine a potential action. Queue manager 204 performs the requiredaction on the target queue entry.

In this example there are two agent groups set up to handle interactionsin queuing system 118. An agent pool 1 is directly responsible foranswering calls from queue 01. An agent pool 2 is directly responsiblefor answering calls from queue 02. Agent pool 1 provides backup serviceto queue 02 and agent pool 2 provides backup service to queue 01. Usingan earlier queue assignment example stated further above, agent pool 1may be set up primarily to work voice calls from queue 01 but may lend ahand in text-based chat if they have to. Agent pool 2 is set upprimarily to handle text-based chat requests but may provide voicebackup to answer telephone calls queued in queue 01.

In one embodiment all of the components illustrated with exception ofthe agent pools may be provided in a single powerful server. In anotherembodiment they may be distributed components distributed to more thanone machine. WI 106 may be one or a set of Web pages that a user isredirected to. In another embodiment WI is a sub-set of pages of theWebsite. In one embodiment WI 106 is a compilation of HTMLadvertisements provided by third-party sources.

In one embodiment and according to Web interaction data results obtainedfrom session activity monitor 201 and processed by data analysis andrules engine 202 a queue entry in one of queues 01 or 02 may bede-queued from one queue serviced by one pool of agents and then queuedinto another queue serviced by another pool of agents. In such as casedata analysis might uncover an intent that was not expressed by the useror known about the user when first queued. Interaction data acquired inreal time while the user interacted with WI 106 may provide the freshintent that resulted in the change of queues for the user.

In one embodiment WI 106 is a visual survey of questions that a usermight be asked to fill out while in queue waiting for a live agent. Theresults of the survey might be processed in real time then weighedagainst the rules to determine if the entry should be advanced in queue.IVR interaction might be blended with Web interaction while the user ison hold waiting for a live agent. The IVR might be programmed torecognize specific hot words or other phrases the user might utter whilein queue potentially leading to a change in queue position. There aremany possibilities.

FIG. 3 is a process flow chart 300 illustrating steps for adjustingqueue position for a caller based on analysis of Web interactionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. At step 301, thecall center such as CC 104 of FIG. 1 opens Web lines for a livecampaign. In this step, users will be enabled to click on a call and orchat request indicia embedded one or more pages on the enterpriseWebsite. Web lines being open simply means that the options are enabledand agents are standing by to answer those interaction requests.

At step 302, a call or chat request arrives at a central switch from theWeb page. In this example the calls and chat requests may be initiatedthrough a session protocol like session initiation protocol (SIP) oranother suitable protocol for setting up and tearing down networksessions. At step 303 the routing system associated with the campaigndetermines if there is an available agent to handle the interactionrequest. It is noted herein that in a universal digital queuing systemcall requests and chat requests may be queued together in the same queuespace.

At step 303, if the routing system determines there is a ready agent totake the interaction, the interaction is routed to the next availablelive agent at step 304. In this case the request did not need to bequeued. The process simply loops back to the next interaction receivedat the switch. If the routing system determines that there is not anavailable agent ready to take the interaction at step 303, the requestis queued for a live agent at step 305. The system then calculates orotherwise determines the estimated waiting time (EWT) for that requestto be serviced by a live agent. CC statistics may be leveraged todetermine the current EWT.

At step 307 the system determines if the EWT for that request exceeds apreset threshold z. If the EWT is not longer than a preset threshold,then the system may play music on hold at step 308 during the time thatthe current request has in queue. In this case no Web interactive wasserved because the time to wait for an available agent is too short. Therequest is queued but no interactive content is served into the user'sWeb session. It is noted herein that if a user initiates contact throughthe Website then association between the users voice/chat session andWeb browsing session is automatically made and is sometimes the samesession where browsing and voice are enabled from a same computingdevice.

If a user makes a call using a separate telephone after seeing thenumber associated with the contact button, then the system will attemptto associate the call during IVR interception to an open Web session. Ifnot enough information is available, then the IVR may prompt the userwith the question “Are you currently on our Website?”

If the EWT is greater than z at step 309 then a Web interactive ispresented (served) to the open Web session of the caller at step 309.The Web interactive may be part of the Website or it may be held in adifferent server connected to the host WS. In this example the termcaller represents a user connected to the enterprise Website thatinitiated a voice call or a chat request through the site or by separateappliance while still connected to the Website. The Web interactive maybe served to the caller as a mini set of pages visible in a mini browserwindow which may be expanded over the existing Web display at the user'sappliance. The caller might be automatically redirected to the Webinteractive held in another location in the same or a different server.In one case, a Web interactive might be dynamically generated for thecaller and may include one or more navigable Web pages.

It is expected that the caller will interact with the Web interactivewhen it is served to the caller. However, it is possible that the callerwill not interact with the served content and may just elect to wait inqueue for the live assistance. In this case no interaction is detectedand the caller may wait in queue the maximum duration. It is noted thatinteractive results between callers in queue might be compared in orderto determine who gets to be served by the next available agent. Theincentive to interact may be to advance one's position in queueshortening the wait for an agent. Another incentive might be that thecaller that interacts with the interactive triggers free upgrades,product discounts, rewards, or other benefits like free technicalservice. Information gleaned from analyzing caller interaction with theWeb interactive may be used to fine tune the campaign and theinteractive content included in the Web interactive.

At step 310, the system monitors the caller interaction with the Webinteractive such as recording mouse movements including clicks andmouseovers, noting specific pages accessed through tag data, andidentifying any advertisements clicked on or any forms populated, and soon. The exact structure of the Web interactive may vary widely but willgenerally be tuned to the nature of the enterprise business model interms of products, services, questions, surveys, and so on. In oneembodiment the Web interactive is pure entertainment to engage thecaller while the caller waits in queue. Perhaps the Web interactive is atwo or three dimensional game that a gaming company wants to expose tothe callers and get feedback about how the callers play the game orreact to certain aspects of the game. Advancement in queue may come tothose callers that are more proficient in game play of the game.

At step 311 the system analyzes the interaction results of the callerwith the Web interactive. The results may be weighed against one or morebusiness rules created for the purpose. At step 312 the system may makea decision in a case of more than one separate queue space, whether toswitch the caller from one queue to another queue. If at step 312 thesystem decides not to move the caller between available queues, thesystem may decide based on the results of step 311 if the caller shouldbe moved in the same queue with respect to position in queue relative toother callers in the same queue. If at step 313 the system determinesnot to move the position of the caller in queue, the process loops backto step 302 for processing the next call (interaction request).

Back at step 312, if the system determines to switch the caller from onequeue to another queue based on results of step 311, then the queuemanager may move the caller from one queue to the designated queue atstep 314. After moving a queue entry from one queue to another, theprocess may end for that caller at step 316. It is noted that there maybe a rule in place that prevents the queue manager from moving an entryfrom a low EWT position in the first queue to a higher EWT position inthe second queue. In one embodiment if an entry is deposited into a newqueue, then the process moves back to 303 where the system checks to seeif an agent is available for that queue position before creating thequeue entry in the new queue. The process may move on again for thatcaller and a new Web interactive might be served if the EWT in the newposition in the new queue is greater than z.

In order to prevent an interaction from looping through the queuingsystem a rule might be created to prevent any one caller from waitingmore than a certain period of time if transferred from one queue toanother queue. For example, the caller may be automatically moved up inposition in the second queue relative to the amount of time that thecaller had to spend in the first queue before transfer. If at step 313the system decided to move the caller's position in queue, at step 315the queue manager may advance or retard the caller's position in queue.There may be a maximum limit a caller may spend in queue if that callerhas been continually bumped down in position by other entries advancingin queue. In this embodiment when the caller has reached the maximumposition a reserve pool of agents may be provided to handle theinteraction if there are still no primary agents to handle the call. Inanother embodiment callers waiting past a certain period in queue may beprompted by IVR to accept a call back.

In a case where the Web interactive offers one or more transactionopportunities, the queue manager may delay advancement in the queueposition of a caller if that caller is in the process of completing atransaction with the enterprise or advertised product through the Webinteractive. In this case a rule might be created that specifies if acaller is passed up due to engagement in a transaction, that callershall be re-queued at the top position in queue. The process typicallyends for that caller at step 316.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that the electronicqueuing system of the invention may be provided using some or all of thementioned features and components without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. It will also be apparent to the skilledartisan that the embodiments described above are specific examples of asingle broader invention which may have greater scope than any of thesingular descriptions taught. There may be many alterations made in thedescriptions without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication transaction management system fora contact center, comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein thememory has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to: receive an interaction to be routedto a contact center resource, the interaction being associated with anend user; estimate a wait time for the interaction to be routed; comparethe estimated wait time to a threshold value; in response to determiningthat the estimated wait time is greater than the threshold value:provide an interactive presentation to the end user while theinteraction is waiting to be routed; monitor in real time, behavior ofthe end user in response to the interactive presentation while theinteraction is waiting to be routed; determine that the behavior isassociated with a positive outcome for the contact center; increasepriority of the interaction based on the determining that the behavioris associated with the positive outcome, wherein the instructions thatcause the processor to increase the priority include instructions thatcause the processor to advance a position of the interaction in the waitqueue; and route the interaction to the contact center resource based onthe advanced position in the wait queue; wherein the interactivepresentation is a web page, and the behavior of the end user involvesthe end user's interaction with the web page; and wherein: the behaviorassociated with the positive outcome for the contact center comprisesthe end user configuring a version of a product or service offered forsale on the web page; and the positive outcome for the contact centercomprises a sale of the version of the product or service offered forsale on the web page.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructionsfurther cause the processor to determine if the end user initiated theinteraction using a multi-modal device having web-browsing ability. 3.The system of claim 1, wherein the interaction is initiated from a webpage hosted by an enterprise of the contact center resource.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein initiation of the interaction from the webpage initiates linking to the interactive presentation.
 5. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to querythe end user associated with the interaction to determine whether theend user has web access, and if web access is available, directing theend user to the interactive presentation.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the interactive presentation is a survey comprising a mechanismfor the end user to respond to questions.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the interactive presentation comprises interactive ability forthe end user to order a product or service.
 8. The system of claim 7,wherein during an ordering process of the product or service, connectionto the contact center resource is delayed until the ordering process iscompleted, and wherein accomplishing the order for the product orservice advances the interaction for connection to the contact centerresource.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions furthercause the processor to select the interactive presentation based on acharacteristic of the end user.
 10. A method associated with a contactcenter, comprising: receiving, by a processor, an interaction to berouted to a contact center resource, the interaction being associatedwith an end user; estimating, by the processor, a wait time for theinteraction to be routed; comparing, by the processor, the estimatedwait time to a threshold value; in response to determining that theestimated wait time is greater than the threshold value: providing, bythe processor, an interactive presentation to the end use while theinteraction is waiting to be routed; monitoring in real time, by theprocessor, behavior of the end user in response to the interactivepresentation while the interaction is waiting to be routed; determining,by the processor, that the behavior comprises positive behavior that isassociated with a positive outcome for the contact center; increasing,by the processor, priority of the interaction based on the determiningthat the behavior is associated with the positive outcome, wherein theincreased priority advances a position of the interaction in the waitqueue; and routing, by a switch coupled to the processor, theinteraction to the contact center resource based on the advancedposition in the wait queue; wherein the interactive presentationcomprises a web page, and the behavior of the end user involves the enduser's interaction with the web page; and wherein: the positive behaviorcomprises the end user configuring a version of a product or serviceoffered for sale on the web page; and the positive outcome for thecontact center comprises a sale of the version of the product or serviceoffered for sale on the web page.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising determining, by the processor, if the end user associatedwith the interaction has initiated the interaction using a multi-modaldevice having web-browsing ability.
 12. The method of claim 10, whereinthe interaction is initiated from a web page hosted by an enterprise ofthe first and second contact center resources.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein the initiation of the interaction from the web pageinitiates linking to the interactive presentation.
 14. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising querying, by the processor, the end userassociated with the interaction to determine if the end user has webaccess, and if web access is available, directing the end user to theinteractive presentation.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein theinteractive presentation is a survey comprising a mechanism for the enduser to respond to questions.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein theinteractive presentation comprises interactive ability for the end userto order a product or service.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinduring an ordering process of the product or service, connection to thecontact center resource is delayed until the ordering process iscompleted, and wherein accomplishing the order for the product orservice advances the interaction for connection to the contact centerresource.
 18. The method of claim 10, further comprising selecting, bythe processor, the interactive presentation based on a characteristic ofthe end user.